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Tree Farm Ten years ago landscape designer, Michael Pfahl and horticulturist, Ronan O’Connor had problems finding large trees suitable for the landscaping projects they were working on, so they decided to grow their own. Today their nursery, Treekeepers Nursery...
Variegated Eucalypts Recently on Burke’s Backyard we featured ‘Summer Beauty’ and ‘Summer Red’, wonderful hybrid gum trees developed specially for the home garden. They produce masses of flowers, and you always know exactly what colour...
Deciduous magnolias are wonderful small trees which produce large scented flowers on bare branches in winter and early spring. Although there are about 100 species of wild magnolias and many of them (such as Magnolia campbellii, M. sargentiana var. robusta and...
If you want a big, bold foliage plant for the garden, you can’t go past the tree philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum). It is often confused with its close relative monstera (Monstera deliciosa), but they are really easy to tell apart. Monstera is sometimes...
These beautiful plants have a botanical name that is difficult to pronounce: schlumbergera. They are named after Frédéric Schlumberger, a collector of cacti who lived in a château near Rouen in France in the mid-nineteenth century. Although they are cacti, they are...
There are hundreds of species of bauhinia, and they all have characteristic orchid-like flowers and 2-lobed leaves. Many of the commonly grown bauhinias come from China, where they are known as sheep’s foot trees, because each leaf looks just like the cloven...
The Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) is native to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria, where it can be found in scattered stands at elevations of 1,000 to 2,500 metres. With a different growth habit to the parent plant, the blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica...
Flowers provide a temporary splash of colour in the garden, but foliage plants will give you colour all year round. There are many beautiful conifers which have blue foliage, including some dwarf varieties. They create a stunning and very classy look in the garden,...
Cornelian Cherry Although the flower display of Cornus mas, the cornelian cherry, is not as spectacular as some of its popular relatives, Peter Valder thinks this species is well worth planting. It’s one of the few trees which flower in a cold climate in the...
Crepe Myrtle Don received a letter from a viewer in Donnybrook, Western Australia, who has grown one of the biggest crepe myrtles ever. This huge tree is about 10m (35′) high! Normally crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica) grow as shrubs from 1-3m (3-10′)...